April 20, 2009

This project turns a old VHS Tape into a USB storage drive. It looks like a normal VHS cassette tape except for the USB cable that sticks out of the shell. All of the project guts are hiding in the areas around the clear windows so that when you have a quick look at the front of the tape all seems normal. When plugged into a computer the VHS Tape Storage Drive will act as a normal USB drive except when the drive is accessed the tape reel will turn and the windows will light up. This will keep at least one of my VHS tapes out of the landfill.

The operation is quite simple, the USB cable connects to a thumb drive inside the device. The thumb drive has been cracked open to expose the circuit board, USB power and the drive LED output has been tapped into. These 3 points are wired to a small circuit board, there is a circuit that stretches the drive pulses into an on or off signal that is buffered by a transistor to power the internal motor and LED lights. The pulse stretcher was needed since the USB drive would flash when it was being accessed. This would have caused the motor action to be very jerky and the internal lights would also have flashed.

The cost to purchase all the parts for this project should be between $10 and $15 depending on the deal you can get for the USB thumb drive and assuming that you have a few items in your parts junk box. Construction time should be 3 to 4 hours but it took me longer since I took a ton of pictures along the way and has some belt drive (or should I say rubber band drive) issues.

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[…] VHS USB Drive Posted by April 27, 2009 gtvt_posts[3557] = {url: “http%3A%2F%2Fwww.e-smartech.com%2Fvhs-usb-drive.php”, title: “VHS%20USB%20Drive”, category: “New%20Gadgets”, desc: “%3Cp%3EWho%20said%20USB%20tapes%20were%20dead%3F%20The%20guys%20over%20at%20Hacked%20Gadgets%20have%20come%20up%20with%20the%20ultimate%20solution%20to%20recycle%20all%20your%20old%20VHS%20tapes%20and%20turn%20them%20into%20this%20cool%20%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fhackedgadgets.com%2F2009%2F04%2F20%2Fvhs-tape-storage-drive%2F2%2F%22%3EVHS%20USB%20Drive%3C%2Fa%3E.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThis%20fun%20USB%20drive%20uses%2C%20and%20old%20VHS%20tape%2C%20a%20USB%20drive%2C%20some%20LEDs%2C%20a%20recycled%20DC%20motor%20and%20a%20small%20petf%20board%2C%20the%20total%20cost%20to%20make%20one%20is%20about%20%2415.00%2C%20check%20out%20the%20video%20of%20it%20in%20action%20below.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cimg%20src%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geeky-gadgets.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F04%2Fvhs-usb-drive.jpg%22%20alt%3D%22VHS%20USB%20Drive%22%20width%3D%22550%22%20height%3D%22450%22%20%2F%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EVery%20cool%21%2C%20if%20you%20want%20to%20make%20your%20own%20head%20on%20over%20to%20%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fhackedgadgets.com%2F2009%2F04%2F20%2Fvhs-tape-storage-drive%2F2%2F%22%3EHacked%20Gadgets%3C%2Fa%3E%20for%20full%20instructions.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThis%20is%20a%20Syndicated%20post%20from%20%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geeky-gadgets.com%22%3EGeeky%20Gadgets%3C%2Fa%3E.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPost%20from%20%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gadgettastic.com%22%3Ehttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.gadgettastic.com%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gadgettastic.com%2F2009%2F04%2F27%2Fvhs-usb-drive%2F%22%3EVHS%20USB%20Drive%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%0A%3Cp%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Ffeedads.googleadservices.com%2F%7Ea%2FzUGABhuh7xkrvbivc2IUnP9cIRU%2Fa%22%3E%3Cimg%20src%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Ffeedads.googleadservices.com%2F%7Ea%2FzUGABhuh7xkrvbivc2IUnP9cIRU%2Fi%22%20border%3D%220%22%3E%3C%2Fimg%3E%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cimg%20src%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds2.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fgadgettastic%2F%7E4%2FWTCeL7Ejg-w%22%20height%3D%221%22%3E”}; Who said USB tapes were dead? The guys over at Hacked Gadgets have come up with the ultimate solution to recycle all your old VHS tapes and turn them into this cool VHS USB Drive. […]

this looks nice but i hate such things. things with no purpose like spinning those things. if you want to make indicator for reading or righting use led or something

but what would be cooler is to right data on actual video Tape
in old days as i know they were writhing data on thin magnetic Tape so it is possible but it is interesting how much data can be stored on VHS Tape?

[…] soldered to the project board. The soldering looks simple when it is magnified this much but after soldering these wires onto a thumb drive for the VHS Tape Storage Drive Project I know first hand how hard it […]

I found your project and it is very cool in my opinion! Was looking for information to make a VHS with a 1TB HD instead of pendrive and use it plugged into a smart TV.
In my case, I think about doing without rotating disks (lack of space) and static LEDs (LEDs flashing will disrupt watch the movies with the lights off).